Ever heard that old expression that it’s all about the Jimmy’s and the Joe’s?
It refers to the best teams always having the best players and the Clemson’s and Alabama’s of the world have proven the theory true.
Recruiting the best players out of high school is as improtant as it’s ever been, but so is developing those players once they get onto campus, and nobody is doing that better than Clemson.
Chris Hummer of 247 Sports recently dug into the data and the numbers back that up. In total, Clemson has seen 92.3% of its draft-eligible 5-star recruits go on to be drafted since 2008 and that leads all of college football.
“If you’re wondering why Clemson is a two-time national champion in the College Football Playoff era, a stat like this one is a great place to start,” Hummer says. “Dabo Swinney has been at Clemson for 13 years, and he’s lapped the field with his consistency of sending five-star players to the NFL.”
However, while Clemson is consistently putting 5-star players into the league better than anyone else, it is Alabama that has more drafted in the first round. Nick Saban’s Crimson Tide are seeing their draft-eligible 5-stars taken in the first round at a 48.8% clip, but the Tigers aren’t far behind.
“Clemson’s first-round hit rate isn’t that far off the Tide either,” Hummer said. “Tee Higgins was the No. 33 pick in the 2020 NFL Draft. Had he gone one spot earlier, the Tigers’ first-round percentage would sit at 46.1%. Alabama is in a class of its own in terms of five-star production, especially when you consider volume. But Clemson isn’t far behind.”
The Tigers will head into the 2021 season with ten 5-star players on the roster. Of those ten, Xavier Thomas, Justyn Ross and Andrew Booth will almost assuredly be selected next April.
It’s a recruiting pitch no other coach in the country is currently able to make and one that should resonate heavily with any potential prospects the Tigers pursue in the future.
